1. Field of the Invention
This application relates to means for controlling a patient handling apparatus, and particularly means for adjusting the position of a surgical table.
2. State of the Art
Adjustable beds, surgical tables and patient transport tables which have means for tilting portions of the table or bed, for raising and lowering the table, etc., are in wide use in hospitals and other medical facilities. Examples of adjustable surgical tables include products marketed by Stierlen-MAQUET AG of Rastatt as BETASTAR Mobile Universal Operating Tables, by MDT Corporation of Rochester, N.Y. as the CASTLE/SHAMPAINE 4900 Series Tables, by AMSCO (American Sterilizer Co.) of Erie, Pa. as QUANTUM Surgical Tables, and by Skytron, Inc. of Grand Rapids, Mich. as SKYTRON 6500 ELITE SERIES Surgical Tables.
Generally, the above-identified adjustable surgical tables are furnished with hand-held pendants for a user to trigger movement of the table to a new position or configuration. These pendants are typically rectangular in shape, and often sufficiently large that when hand-held, both hands are required to operate the pendant. That is, as shown in FIG. 8 depicting a prior art pendant, the dimensions of the pendant are such that the fingers of the hand in whose palm the pendant rests do not easily reach the keys, especially for persons with smaller hands. Instead, the user must use the other hand to press the keys. Further, such pendants are typically provided with a clip for removably mounting the pendant to the table. However, many conventional clips do not easily allow the pendant to be rotated upward or about a vertical axis to a position where the pendant face carrying the keys is more easily viewed.
Furthermore, there are some potential hazards associated with the use of such pendants. These include, but are not limited to, medical personnel tripping over an electrical cord attached to a pendant which is clipped to a table, perhaps damaging the electrical connections of the pendant; undesired triggering of table movement by inadvertent contact with a key on the pendant; and mistakes in selecting the desired key on the pendant in poor lighting or low-light conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need for a pendant for controlling adjustable surgical tables, which provides safety features to avoid the above hazards. There is also a need for such a pendant which is configured for comfortable and accurate single-handed operation. There is further a need for a control pendant having a table-clip mechanism which will allow the pendant to breakaway in response to excessive strain on the cord.